Picturing America

Oh my goodness!
I signed up for a "grant" from the National Endowment for the Humanities that was for a program called Picturing America. The recipients of the grant receive a curriculum guide and art prints to use with them.
I received the shipment yesterday. 19 laminated 2'x3' posters with a picture on each side!
The curriculum guide actually covers American history, civics, economics, music, geography, literary connections and science.
Part of the grant is that you are supposed to display the images in your "institution" and rotate them out over the course of the grant (one year). We do get to keep them though.
I guess I will be looking for some wall space.

LLELA

What a wonderful field trip! I am so glad that the weather held out for us long enough to do this one. We weren't sure for a little while if it would or not.
We met our Cub Scout Den at the Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area to fulfill the requirements for the Water and Soil Conservation Elective, which we need to get the Conservation Badge.
Lisa Cole at LLELA was fabulous. She worked with me to arrange activities that met all of our requirements.
These were our requirements:
a. Dig a hole or find an excavation project and describe the different layers of soil you see and feel. (Do not enter an excavation area alone or without permission.)
b. Explore three different kinds of earth by conducting a soil experiment.
c. Visit a burned-out forest or prairie area, or a slide area, with your den or your family. Talk to a soil and water conservation officer or forest ranger about how the area will be planted and cared for so that it will grow to be the way it was before the fire or slide.
d. What is erosion? Find out the kinds of grasses, trees, or ground cover you should plant in your area to help limit erosion.

We were there a little while before the other two families, so the kids did some exploring.
(Caroline is carrying some kind of insect in the background)


We are checking out what kinds of critters are hanging out by the Henbit.


Here is a picture of the hole that we dug to see the layers of earth. This is right next to the burned out prairie that we examined, but I didn't get a picture of that.


Lisa took us to an off-limit area to see the Heronry. There are several Blue Herons that have set up nests in the top of the trees and the paths have been closed so as not to disturb them. Our group was so quiet that she took us over so that we could check them out. It was really cool!


After we finished with the hike and activities, we drove over to see the Bison herd. That was really impressive (and about that time the cold front that we have been waiting for blasted through!)




LLELA uses Bison and controlled burning to try and bring back some of the Blackland Prairie that used to be common in North Texas and is now practically disappeared.

Oil Painting Class

The girls were signed up to do an Oil Painting Class today at the recreation center. When I signed them up, I asked Joseph if he would like to do it also and he told me NO. Yesterday, when we were talking about what we had to do today, I mentioned that he could bring a book or his DS to the rec center while they girls did their class. He said, "you mean I have to go?"
When I responded in the affirmative, he said that he would like to take it also.
So, all three kids had an oil painting class today. ;)
Pre-blog days, the Joseph and Libby had taken a class by this same instructor.
Robert Garden is very calm and mellow and I think it is amazing what he is able to get the kids to do!
I peeked in while they were painting (this is through a window)




This is the finished product. A beautiful red flower! (We can't seem to come to a consensus on white KIND of flower it is. ;))

Venn Diagram

One of the kids' assignments today was to do a Venn Diagram comparing two characters in the novel we are reading. Both Caroline and Joseph thought it would be a really good idea to do a triple Venn Diagram comparing the two novel characters to themselves.
Here is Joseph's (I am not sure where Caroline's ended up, but it was similar to this one)

The first day of spring in North Texas

The calendar says that it is the first day of spring and we can verify that with our first spring flowers of the year....Daffodils and Virginia Bluebells.

Let's go fly a kite!

Caroline and I picked up kites today for $1 each at Walmart and the kids tried them out this evening.
This is Libby....


Joseph....


Caroline...

Brownie/Cub Scout Field Trip

Today we had a field trip to the Environmental Discovery Garden with the Brownies and the Cub Scouts. The field trip leader was the teacher that Joseph had last spring and fall in his Junior Master Gardening Class, which was kind of cool. Miss Erin is such a wonderful teacher and she had complete control of this very diverse group (1/2 cub scouts, 1/2 brownies and 1/2 homeschooled 1/2 public schooled).
Here they are on the bridge. I am not sure what they talked about because grown-ups weren't allowed...


For the trek over to the bridge (about 25 yards from where we started out), they all buddied up. Joseph and Cameron, of course, were immediately glued to each other. Cameron's little sister, Audrey, and Caroline were buddies and Cameron's cousin, Hannah and Libby were attached at the hip all afternoon.


Libby is showing me the rosemary and the "Lamby's Ears".


Joseph knew the answers to a lot of questions, being the Jr. Master Gardener and all.


Caroline is trying out the homemade eco-friendly house cleaner that they got to make. They each brought home their own spray bottle of it, so I think I have some new housekeepers!


The weather was so pretty this evening that we took a picnic over to Towne Lake and then fed the ducks (of course, a cool front started blowing in about the time we sat down to eat).
This is Feeding the Ducks (AKA chasing the water fowl and hurling bakery products at them)...

Disney On Ice

Tonight, the kids and I had the pleasure of going to see Disney On Ice. The girls went a few years ago to see the Disney Princess on Ice show, but Joseph has never been. We got to go because a fellow blogger had a contest and gave away a family four pack of tickets....and WE won!
Because we didn't want to get stuck in traffic, we headed down to Dallas EARLY and ate dinner at Cafe Express on McKinney Ave at about 4:30. The girls, of course, are in their special occasion fluffy skirts.


Are my kids the only ones that can eat an entire meal that is white? (Macaroni, breadsticks and french fries...oh well, it was a special night, right?)


Apparently, it isn't just my kids that will eat that. How bold is that?


After dinner, we headed over to the American Airlines Center and Victory Park. We peeked in and watched the Channel 8 anchors getting ready for the news. Gloria Campos spotted the girls in their skirts and started waving to them and mouthed, "I like your skirts!"


Maybe we came down just a bit too early.


I was a little bummed. I grabbed my little camera so that it would be easy to carry, but the batteries kept dying on me. I would squeak a picture in and then it would give me a "Change your batteries" message and die everytime I took a picture, so I only took a few.
Here is the only one I got in the arena. The kids are settled in with their $10 snowcones and ready for the show. The all LOVED it. And I love to watch the look of wonder on their face when they get to enjoy a treat like that.

Thanks so much Yolanda!

If you were stranded on a desert island.....

and you could only take five things with you, what would you take?
Caroline has an Encylopedia, magnifying glass, blanket, rope and a raincoat/windbreaker.


Libby would bring a Big Book of Questions and Answers, yarn (which was to symbolize rope), binoculars, notepad and pencils.


Joseph would take a shovel, binoculars (which double as a magnifying glass), whistle (also has a compass, a flint and a waterproof cylinder), plant guide and needle nosed pliers. The needle nosed pliers are because one time when he went camping he fell out of a tree and landed in a thicket of thorns. Daddy rescued him using needle nosed pliers to cut through the branches. So they are a MUST when you are stranded.Moving Beyond the Page.

Joseph's FIRST three paragraph paper

Writing has always been like pulling teeth with Joseph...until this year. Last year, I would pick and choose which writing assignments we did because I would lose him and it would turn into a huge battle of wills to try and get it done.
He had an assignment last week to write a 3 paragraph paper on perseverance. It was supposed to be how HE persevered in something, but we couldn't think of anything. ;)So, he wrote about Alexander Graham Bell instead. I am so proud of him! He wrote the outline himself, then I took dictation so that he could get the words down on paper that he wanted and then he typed it up.

The new "master" bedroom

Here is another change in our space. Ken and I moved into Joseph's room.
And if you were jealous of the lovely pastoral setting that we are now calling home, you will be simply green to find out that we have a zillion twinkling stars on the walls and ceiling when the lights are out. ;)

Some of us are handling the changes better than others. I am happy to report that all of the two legged members of the family are fine with it. One of our four footed members is happy as long as she can lay in between two humans. The other four footed member, however, is completely befuddled. He tried to run into our "old" room last night when we told him it was bedtime, then he ran back downstairs when that didn't seem right and he ran back up again. He did this several times and finally laid down in what we are now calling "The Dormitory". I went to bed and after a few minutes, he was barking to get out, but he ran back downstairs as soon as the door was opened. He had to be physically escorted to his new space in his new room.
This morning wasn't any better, he ran out as soon as Ken woke up (normally, he sleeps until I get up and doesn't really stir until I am ready to go downstairs). I had to get up at 6 to let him out and then he wouldn't come back up with me. Poor old Toby. It may take him a few days to get used to this. ;)

A new school room

Since we have grandparents moving in with us at the end of this month, we are doing a LOT of rearranging, reorganizing and repurposing of space.
In fact, every room except for Alex's room and the family room is affected by it.
Here is our new school room (which used to be the living room).
(Joseph is working on his new species of bird....sssshhhh...don't tell him that you are not supposed to do schoolwork during spring break. ;))

What a Scottish Rite day looks like

Four days a week, our daily routine includes a trek to Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for the Dyslexia Program that Libby attends.
I have been meaning to post what a morning looks like since we started doing this last September...so here it is.
We load up the car at 8:30.

On a good day, we can be at the hospital in 45 minutes.
This was not a good day and the reason we leave at 8:30(we were actually sitting still when I took the picture).

This was the latest we have ever gotten there. We parked at 9:57....her teacher comes for her at 10:00, so we had to run.

The first of two elevator rides on the way up.

Libby's teacher meets us in the waiting area by the second elevator. She was there when we got off the elevator and Caroline had serious need of a tissue, so I didn't get a picture. Libby heads off with her teacher and we head down to do school.

We spend the next hour in the main waiting area/check-in area/temporary cafeteria area of the hospital.
Today, the kids are reading their two chapters of Abel's Island.




Here is the big distracting contraption that we don't even notice anymore. ;)


After they finished the chapters and we discussed them, they started brainstorming to write a three paragraph paper on perseverence.
Caroline is writing about Helen Keller and got started right off on her outline.



Joseph had a bit more of a mental block.


Normally, we would have done several things....handwriting and math included. Writing that much is quite time consuming for them and that is all we did today.
After an hour, we headed back up to get our Libby.
Mrs. Putnam said that Libby and her two classmates did incredibly today and she hopes it rains everyday. ;)


Then we are back in the car for the ride home. We are home by noon.